If you are noticing that your getting caught in the bottom position of the squat and its hard to get out of the “hole” you might need to focus more on glute activation on the ascending portion. The hard part is learning the feeling of how to activate these muscles and why they are critical for overall strength.
One of my favorite moves to do is the box squat. This is simply using a box and literally sitting on in for a 2 second pause and driving up out of the bottom. Sounds simple enough but it creates a big challenge if you have not been engaging these muscles properly.
HOW TO:
- Neutral pelvis to start, send the butt back and down until you sit on the box.
- Here your shins are vertical and you are in a seated position holding the core tight.
- After sitting completely on the box for a 2 second pause, forcefully flex the abs, hips, and glutes and stand from the box.
- To ascend push the knees out keeping your chest high and return to a fully standing position.
- You do not want to bend or hinge at the waist because this puts you into a good morning position which is not the proper form for this movement.
To make this movement more difficult you simply keep making the box height shorter and shorter. Start at a height that is comfortable to squat to and then as you are gaining more glute activation you will keep decreasing the size of the box. This technique also helps with flexibility in the hips and learning the correct movement patterns.
A box squat combines two very important methods. One is the static-dynamic method. It combines two muscle activities. Static work occurs while on the box, although the lifter is constantly moving backward or forward. Then by flexing off the box, the dynamic sequence occurs. The second method that is used when box squatting is the relaxed- overcome-by-dynamic work. This occurs by sitting on the box with the hips rolling in a relaxed fashion, then switching to an explosive, or dynamic, concentric phase. Both of the above-mentioned methods build explosive strength as well as absolute strength.
The video below is a great demonstration of what a box squat looks like as well as how to perform this movement!